Broadband communication access, on which our society and economy is growing increasingly dependent, is becoming readily available to users on board mobile platforms such as aircraft, ships, trains, and automobiles. To provide this broadband access antenna arrays, e.g. satellite antenna arrays, are typically mounted to the fuselage of the mobile platform. Often these antennas are installed under a shroud, cover, or radome. Typically, the height of the antennas makes it prone to being struck by airborne objects, such as a bird, for which the radome provides little protection.
In the case of aircraft, simulations have shown that a bird strike against the rigidly mounted antenna can result in an impact force of up to 100,000 ft-lbs. The antenna and aircraft structure must be capable of absorbing and/or deflecting this force without the antenna or the aircraft structural failing. Such a failure could cause large portions of the antenna to break away while in flight, which can damage various parts of the aircraft, such as the vertical stabilizer, the horizontal stabilizer or the rear engines. An antenna structure capable of withstanding such an impact can be costly, heavy, and impractical without significant compromise to the satellite tracking performance of the antenna.
Generally, known devices for protecting an antenna, or other equipment mounted to the fuselage of the mobile platform, have been severely limiting to the performance of antenna, or equipment, and/or mobile platform. For example, typically such known devices limit antenna, equipment and/or mobile platform performance due to such things as signal blockage, increased weight, increased drag on the mobile platform, reduced control of the mobile platform, increased space consumption on fuselage of the mobile platform, and increased cost.
Therefore, it would be very desirable to provide a system for protecting such equipment from impacts with airborne objects without limiting the performance of the equipment. Furthermore, it would be very desirable to provide such an impact prevention system without incurring the cost of structurally reinforcing the equipment to withstand a high force impact.